ConnectiCare takes lead as most popular insurer on exchange

ConnectiCare Benefits Inc. was the most popular carrier among plans sold on the state’s health insurance exchange this year, capturing 42.3 percent of the 110,095 people who signed up for insurance through Access Health CT.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state’s largest insurer and last year’s exchange leader, received 39.8 percent of signups. HealthyCT raised its share from 3.2 percent last year to 15.6 percent this year, while UnitedHealthcare, in its first year of offering coverage through the exchange, captured 2 percent of customers.

Exchange plans by insurance company

The number of people signed up for insurance through Access Health CT, by insurer

Carrier

2014

2015

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

41,813

43,910

ConnectiCare Benefits

34,308

46,668

HealthyCT

2,592

17,239

UnitedHealthcare

NA

2,278

Total

78,713

110,095

Access Health CT

The majority of customers in all plans picked silver plans. The plans are categorized by metals; bronze plans have lower premiums but require members to pay more when getting care in the form of deductibles and cost-sharing, while gold plans have higher premiums but leave members with less to pay toward their care. For most people, silver plans are mid-level, although people with lower incomes can buy silver plans with deeply subsidized cost-sharing.

The number of people who bought insurance through Access Health CT, by plan type and insurer. Gold plans cost the most but require members to pay less when getting care, whereas bronze plans have lower premiums but higher deductibles and other cost-sharing. Silver plans are midlevel for many people, but people with lower incomes can purchase silver plans with significantly discounted cost-sharing. Catastrophic plans are only available to people under 30. Only ConnectiCare Benefits offers a platinum plan, which has the highest premiums and lowest cost to members when receiving care.

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Arielle Levin Becker covers health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists and a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the National Health Journalism Fellowship. She is a graduate of Yale University.

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